


Pizza and Other Cheesy Things

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Pizza Place, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 16:42:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 20,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7581877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It all started when Jisoo accidentally said 'I love you' to the pizza boy on the other end of the line.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. heart of bacon

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on AFF under omona-mark with all other details, tiny author bits and special notes found there.  
> Transferred here to allow downloads for the finished fic (・∀・ )  
> \--- will be announced on AFF as soon as August 5 hits ♥︎

Hong Jisoo could be considered a sweet boy if you ask his parents. He would definitely be a nice guy if you ask the people around him. Other than that, he was also on the diligent side of things. University life has began to take its toll on the 19 year old, especially since he was nearing the end of his year's first semester. That always meant an onslaught of exams, reports, and lots and lots of papers; all of which went hand in hand with coffee, and late night snacking. 

That night, even his dorm mate Hansol was staying up late for his final paper. There were empty cans of soda all around the younger boy, since he wasn't a fan of coffee. A bag of chips was on the floor, long empty of its contents since it was shared by the two as they sat side by side at the dining table their dorm had. They started close to 8PM, some time after dinner. It was currently almost 1AM. 

Jisoo was typing away at his laptop, eyes focused on the screen. He would shift from window to window, tab to tab, reading on information before he would begin to type again. University life was a tedious life. It required a lot of time, effort, and well... money.

"Let's order pizza," Hansol suggested as he stopped typing. He stretched his arms out and gave a relieved sound afterwards. "I need more energy to work on this. Plus, I dunno about you, but I am starving. There's this 24/7 store called Pledis Pizza that Mingyu was talking about." 

"Are we sharing the bill?" Jisoo asked calmly, still keeping his eyes on the screen and his fingers on the keyboard. 

Hansol shrugged, "sure, man. We're sharing the pizza anyway." 

He got up from his seat and stretched some more, moving his body side to side to get rid of the soreness he got from sitting for so long. Hansol disappeared into his room for a moment, before coming out with his phone in his hand. He returned to his original seat and put the phone on loud speaker. 

As it was ringing, Hansol lightly poked Jisoo's shoulder, making the latter stop typing.

"You order please. I'll take anything." 

Jisoo only had to look away from the laptop screen for a second, and already his eyes felt the fatigue of staring at it for five hours straight. The piles of papers had been torture even for the hardworking boy. He glanced at the phone to see if it had connected to the pizza place yet. He wasn't even sure what to order at Pledis Pizza but figured every pizza place had more or less the same menu anyway. Cheese and bacon seemed good. 

He yawned just as the ringing stopped, and a male's voice came from the other line.

"Hello, thanks for calling Pledis Pizza! It's 1:30AM and I'm guessing you're a university student. What's your order?" 

It took a moment for Jisoo to process what was being said to him. He did have time to wonder why the voice on the other line sounded so cheerful tnough. He was right on both counts: it was 1:30AM and Jisoo was a university student. A really dazed university student. 

"Yeah, uhm, do you guys serve cheese and bacon pizza?" 

"Sir, have you ever been here before?" 

Jisoo blinked and glanced at Hansol in case his dorm mate has, but the other boy shook his head as well. 

"No," he answered cautiously, and heard an exagerrated gasp on the other end. 

"That explains it then! Pledis Pizza has everything!" He paused to chuckle. "So one regular sized cheese and bacon pizza? No other toppings?" 

"Yes," Jisoo replied just as he decided to start working on his paper again, eyes scanning through the words on the screen. 

"That would be 10,000 won," the voice on the other end said. "We'll have somebody text this number, and then kindly text back with your exact address please." 

"Okay." 

"Thank you, please order again! Bye!" 

"Sure, thanks, bye, I love you." 

Jisoo froze. 

Hansol began laughing beside him, muttering something like "those aren't your parents, dude!"

"I love you, too," the pizza boy chirped, before laughing himself. "Really working hard on those all-nighters, huh?" 

"I'm so sorry," Jisoo gushed out immediately, all thoughts of doing his paper flying out of his mind as he stared at the phone in horror. "I didn't mean to say any of that. Oh, well, okay I meant to say thanks and goodbye but not the I love you bit, not that I hate you or anything since I barely know you, but--"

He was interrupted by Hansol snapping his fingers in front his face. That, and by the laughter he continued to hear on the other line. 

"I'm sorry," Jisoo repeated. He could feel his face flush with embarrassment, and was thankful everything was happening through a phone call and not in person. That would have been so much worse.

"It's fine," the pizza boy replied smoothly. "Effects of no sleep and all that, yeah? I hope the pizza helps." 

Jisoo sighed in relief because the complete stranger he just said I love you to didn't seem to mind much. 

"Yes. Thanks again." 

"It'll be there soon. Bye!" 

Hansol tapped on the end call button before Jisoo could accidentally say anything again. 

The older boy groaned, "I can't believe that just happened." 

"Way to go confessing to the pizza guy," Hansol teased as he was typing away on his phone. Most likely the address. "Wait till the other guys hear about this." 

Jisoo pushed away the thoughts of what their other friends' reaction would be to his moment of shame. He already predicted laughter. Lots of laughter. At least the pizza boy took it well. He figured there could have been a lot more terrible scenarios that could have happened instead of the situation with the pizza boy being a too cheerful boy who went along with it. He was glad for that. 

There came a knock on the door some time later, and Jisoo was the one who answered it. 

"One regular bacon and cheese pizza," the delivery boy (his nametag said Wonwoo, Jisoo noticed) read off the receipt before glancing up. "For 'the boy who said I love you' apparently?" 

Jisoo's face heated up again as he awkwardly took the pizza. 

"Junghan enjoyed the call," Wonwoo said casually, grinning a little. 

Jisoo couldn't find a proper reply to that, deciding instead to just hand the boy the money and say his thanks. He did take note of the name Junghan however. Well, at least he now knew who to completely avoid if ever he ends up at Pledis Pizza. He was already certain that one instance of total embarrassment was enough, thank you. 

"Pizza for us," Jisoo announced as he carried it to the table. Hansol immediately opened it as Jisoo settled himself back down on his chair, ready to work on his paper again. Until Hansol laughed, that is. 

"That's sweet," the younger boy cooed as he pushed the open box towards Jisoo, who peered in. His mouth fell open in surprise. 

Apart from the regular bacon-infused cheese overload the pizza had, there was also bunch of bacon toppings shaped carefully to resemble a heart, with an extra little smiley face in the center of the heart. For a split second, Jisoo wondered if this was technically considered extra toppings, before he realized that that really wasn't the important part of the matter at hand. He felt his face heat up again just from the sight of it.

"I feel like this pizza should only be for you now," Hansol continued, earning a light shove on the shoulder. 

"Eat and shut up, Hansol," Jisoo commented, taking a slice of pizza, not seeing how Hansol's face lit up at that.

"I guess you can say you stole a pizza his heart."

Jisoo groaned and attempted to push the laughing Hansol off his chair with his pizza-free hand. He was never going to hear the end of this.


	2. wasting flour

University life, academically, was going well for Yoon Junghan. At least, it could have gone a lot worse for the year. He got the easy load from his professors, who were mostly against having to read and grade papers till the crack of dawn. He had a lot of hands-on projects to do instead, which was also kind of a negative thing considering he had a regular budget. That meant having to take up a part-time job, which was close to impossible to do in the day, because of his schedule, which led to him working the after hours at Pledis Pizza, the nearest pizza place to the school. 

At least, he managed to drag a few of his friends to work with him. That, and most of the other guys at Pledis Pizza were around his age anyway, so it was easy making friends with everybody else too.

"When are you going to wipe that smile off your face?" Junhui, one of the aforementioned friends, commented, rolling his eyes. He was from China, and also happened to be Junghan's roommate. They didn't officially dorm in the campus apartments, choosing instead to live somewhere around the school instead. It helped since it was of decent distance from the pizza place, and the university.

Junghan was already in an upbeat mood ever since he started work, even if it started at 12AM. The day had went well, he delivered a good report in one of his classes, and he got a few hours of sleep before heading over. He liked keeping a cheerful disposition at the workplace, because that not only helped him get by, but it helped the other guys have a better time too. However, that night, his wider-than-usual smile probably had something to do with the really cute customer he just got off the phone with earlier, the one who had accidentally said 'I love you' and who began to apologize a million times. 

"Hey, you gotta admit, it was amusing," he said lightly, recalling the look of shock that pass by his friend's features after he replied 'I love you, too' to the person on the other line. 

That earned another eye roll from the Chinese boy, "such a flirt."

Junghan huffed and pouted at that, "I am not a flirt, Junhui, I was just trying to lighten up the mood. Poor guy was working on something at 1:30AM."

"We're working at 1:30AM," another voice quipped. Seunggwan stood by the kitchen counter, flour obvious on his apron along with some tomato sauce stains, much like Junghan's own. He was one of the original Pledis Pizza employees, and despite being one of the youngest, he got along with Junghan just fine. "Until 5AM, actually."

"Which only leaves an extra two to three hours to sleep some more," Junhui sighed. "I regret letting you talk me into this."

Junghan maintained his positive stance nonetheless, choosing to smile at his friends instead. Sure, he has class every morning that lasted till the afternoon, and his sleeping schedule varied on how much assignments he had, and even so it wasn't usually straight hours of sleep, but still. It wasn't that bad working at the pizza place at ungodly hours, because it usually meant less work to do since most people would be asleep, and they were getting paid extra. It was a sacrifice worth making, in his opinion.

"Hey, at least we're doing a good service to others," Junghan smiled. 

"Is your idea of a good service flirting with customers through heart shaped bacon?"

Junghan threw some flour towards Junhui, who jumped to the side and dodged it easily. He stuck his tongue out, "you're cleaning that up."

"For the record, again, I wasn't flirting. I've never flirted with customers before, and you know that, that's up Wonwoo's alley," Junghan flipped some of his hair off his face, getting flour in it in the process but didn't really care. "I just thought the gesture would provide entertainment for our valued customer."

"Valued customer? He's never been here!" Seunggwan reacted, well aware that Junghan had asked whoever was on the other line if he had ever been to Pledis Pizza. "Safe your excuses for another day."

"He will be a valued customer since I gave good service," Junghan was saying just as the loud sound of a motorcycle engine could be heard outside. Junhui gave another eye roll as Wonwoo sauntered into the place, a wicked grin on his face. The other boys could feel his excitement as he went up to the counter.

Wonwoo clapped a hand on Junghan's shoulder, who blinked back in surprise.

"You, my friend, will definitely enjoy the looks of him," he said, laughing loudly as Junghan looked confused for a moment, before realization passed over his features and a light blush took place. He lightly swatted the hand on his shoulder away. 

Junhui approached the two with a cheeky smile, "does he look like Junghan's type?"

"He's good looking for sure," Wonwoo said confidently, causing Junghan to stutter something along the lines of what type are you talking about I don't have a type. "Not as good as that Mingyu guy we have as a regular though. He still refuses to acknowledge me."

Seunggwan snickered at the reaction.

"Did you get his name?" 

"Unfortunately, no," Wonwoo said, shaking his head sadly.

Junghan couldn't help but feel a small tinge of disappointment too, before he brushed it off, reasoning to himself that it's not like he was actually expecting anything to happen just cuz I love you's were said. It was even accidental. Sure, the boy on the other line gave a really cute reaction, but the chances of them meeting each other or for that encounter to happen again were slim. He should really stop being a hopeless romantic. Right on cue, he felt an arm sling across his shoulder, and looked over to see Junhui standing there with a cheshire like grin on his face.

"Is our angel Junhan sad?" Junhui teased. "You know we do have his number, right?"

At that, Junghan visibly perked up- they did have saved numbers of the customers, and the boy from earlier did use a cellphone to call, but still.

"It could belong to somebody else and he just ordered for them," Junghan muttered, remembering the countless times his own roommate had shoved his phone onto his ear just as the somebody connected to the other line, complaining that his Korean wasn't good enough to order food when it perfectly was. Junhui must have realized this too, because he laughed and agreed, much to the other boy's dismay.

"We also technically have his address."

"That's way too stalkerish."

"It's still contact with him, kinda," Wonwoo commented. "You'll regret not finding him, seriously."

Junghan rolled his eyes and sighed, "c'mon guys, stop trying to pair me up. It was a customer and I was just doing my job, there's really nothing more to it." Wonwoo opened his mouth to speak again, but he cut him off and continued. "It doesn't matter if he was cute. Really."

"You just admitted he was cute," Seunggwan teased, which made Junghan blush again before he argued that it was because Wonwoo mentioned it and it was totally not because of the way he spoke over the phone, his voice light sounding and showed hints of shyness just by the tone of it, even if the boy sounded tired as hell. He was just doing his job, tried to make things better, all that jazz. 

When he finished explaining himself for the hundredth time that night, Junghan looked around to see that he was still met with mixed looks of amusement and skepticism. Finally, Junhui gave a loud sigh and nodded.

"Alright, whatever you say..."

Junghan was about to smile when Junhui continued.

"Lover boy."

That time, the flour managed to hit Junhui squarely on the chest before he could escape.


	3. such wonderful friends

It could have gone worse. At least, that's what Jisoo told himself over and over as he hid behind his textbook and tried to drown out his friends and their constant teasing. Sure enough, Hansol told everybody else the moment they got together for lunch about last night's "thrilling confession" and they all reacted immediately, cooing that Jisoo was such a sweet boy and then proceeded to ask if he had any idea who the guy he confessed to was. 

Jisoo decided to keep quiet about the name 'Junghan' in case of them actually knew the guy.

Seungcheol laughed the loudest, followed by Seokmin who looked like he couldn't even breathe. Minghao, bless the guy and his Chinese blood, took awhile to understand the story and even after it was explained twice, decided only to laugh softly, before resuming his puppy look, which was appreciated by Jisoo. Mingyu had smirked, but didn't talk until the laughing died down.

"You should thank me," Mingyu said, wiggling his eyebrows since he was the one who told Hansol about Pledis Pizza after all. "Pizza guy might be The One." 

Jisoo groaned again as the last two words escaped his friend's lips, burying himself further into his book. 

"Not everybody is looking for The One," Hansol retorted, and for a moment Jisoo was about thank him until the American boy continued. "Sometimes, like Jisoo, The One finds them." 

"Guys," Jisoo whined a little. "It was an accident. A horrible, embarrassing accident." 

"Technically Jisoo found The One though," Seokmin began to say as if Jisoo hadn't spoken. "He called. He confessed too." 

"I called though," Hansol pointed out. "But true, he confessed first." 

"I did not confess," Jisoo said, exasperated and wishing he had chosen better friends and a better dorm mate, but no, it was far too late now. Still chuckling, Seungcheol slinged an arm around his shoulders, giving him a good squeeze, probably for some sort of reassurance.

"Lighten up, Hong Jisoo, we're just teasing," he said, grinning. "We're also genuinely amused and in some ways, we really want to know what happens next in the Pizza Boy saga." 

"Yeah," Minghao quietly piped in, nodding in a cute manner. Jisoo doubted he understood everything but still. 

Jisoo resisted the urge to hit his head on the table, "it won't be a saga because nothing will happen with it." 

"Unless," Seokmin started to say. Jisoo watched with horror as Seokmin met eyes with Mingyu, and they both smirked. Immediately Jisoo felt that his life was in imminent danger at the sight of the two with their sly grins. Hansol joined soon after, having noticed the atmosphere. 

Seungcheol laughed again.

Minghao tilted his head in confusion.

"No," Jisoo said sternly. "Absolutely not." 

"Awww c'mon," Mingyu whined. "Don't you want to meet him? He loves you back!" 

Jisoo ignored the last bit as he began to imagine the scene where he ends up in front of Junghan, a blurred image in his place since he didn't know how he looked like after all, but the name tag should be able to make that obvious. There was the comfort that at least Junghan didn't know his name nor how he looked like, but still. He was certain his face would be flushed red. He could almost still hear the other boy's laugh, crisp and clear like from the phonecall, and Jisoo quickly shook his head. 

"Nothing will bring me over to Pledis Pizza," he said firmly. "I refuse to even order from there again." 

At that, Hansol gasped, "but their pizza was so good! We got extra bacon!" 

Seokmin tried to hide his laugh by coughing, but that didn't work too well. Jisoo felt his face heat up again just at the thought of the bacon heart.

Damn it, Hansol. 

"Alright, we're done teasing," Seungcheol said from beside Jisoo, who sighed in relief. "Back to regular matters. Classes for the afternoon are cancelled, right?" 

Minghao nodded, and added in, "school special holiday." 

"Do you guys need a ride to the dorm?" Seungcheol offered, meeting Hansol's eye. 

A look of understanding passed between them.

Jisoo didn't notice. 

'Yeah," Hansol said calmly. "Beats walking, right, Jisoo?" 

"Sure," Jisoo shrugged. "Might as well conserve energy." 

Seokmin grinned, "Mingyu, Minghao and I will come with." Mingyu shot him a confused look but Seokmin elbowed him softly. "Even if we live in a closer dorm, why not join a fun car pool? Right, Mingyu?" 

Finally getting it, Mingyu nodded as slowly as he could, which was mimicked by Minghao.

"Yup."

Jisoo felt like something was going to happen to him again, but decided not to voice it out. Surely, his friends couldn't have been that serious about messing with his life. Surely. Please. A car ride back to the dorm seemed safe enough. It was only a short trip back. They all left the cafeteria and boarded Seungcheol's car. 

Remember when Jisoo said the day could have gone worse? It just did. A few minutes into the car ride, and Jisoo began to realize the road was not familiar. The right turn Seungcheol was supposed to take became a left. It dawned on him that he had been tricked and currently trapped. He could almost already smell the scent of pizza and shame in the air. He didn't even have the strength to complain, choosing instead to bury his face in his hands. Upon seeing his reaction, the boys shared hi-fives (minus Seungcheol, who was driving.) Hansol patted his back. 

"I hate you all," Jisoo said dryly, partially muffled. 

He only wished that since it was in the afternoon, that Junghan wasn't around, considering he was around during the night shift. Yeah. If he was lucky, there would be no sign of the boy and everything wouldn't go that badly. Still, Jisoo felt that going to the pizza place in general was a bad idea. He didn't have the strength in him to even fight Mingyu, who began to drag all 176cm of him with the power of a boy 185cm tall (what does he eat to be that tall? The answer is everything.)

The others went in first, followed by a reluctant Jisoo still being pushed by Mingyu. They were greeted by one or two of the staff, and the enticing smell of pizza and even other food scents. Jisoo kept his head down the entire time, watching his sneakers scuff on the floor instead of making eye contact with anybody in Pledis Pizza, as if the whole joint knows of him, but he was just making sure. The place wasn't packed with people, so they still found an empty table somewhere near the corner. 

"Hey guys, what will it be?" A voice asked- thankfully unfamiliar to Jisoo, who still didn't look up, as if the whole place knew about him. It wasn't that likely, but still, he was being cautious. 

"Cheese and bacon pizza," all five of the other guys said at the same time, and Jisoo swore they must have planned that out. 

"Two regular sized ones please," Seokmin piped in.

"Alright."

When the waiter walked off, Jisoo allowed himself to finally raise his head and look around. Pledis Pizza was actually bigger than what he imagined, and it looked like any regular pizza store save for some random retro diner designs. The kitchen, or simply just the area where the pizza was being made, was visible to the public, so whoever sat on the counter can get to watch it being made. Jisoo's thoughts drifted to the idea of a specific cheese pizza being made on the counter, topped with heart shaped bacon for all to see. 

Hansol nudged his shoulder, "smile a bit, Jisoo."

"No."

"C'mon, it's too late to do anything now," Seungcheol said from across him, a wide grin on his face. "It can't be that bad."

"I'm disowning all of you as friends," Jisoo stated, which earned him a confused look from Minghao that made him quickly add, "except you."

Seokmin and Mingyu began to whine and complain, and at the tone of their voices and over the top reactions, Jisoo couldn't help but crack a small smile, which was immediately pointed out by the other guys and laughter began to erupt. For a moment, everything was going smoothly, so well infact that Jisoo almost forgot the whole point of why they ended up at Pledis Pizza. Until it reached the point where two plates of pizza was placed down on their table, in the middle of Seokmin explaining his latest story.

"Here are your pizzas!"

Jisoo froze at the voice.

His eyes immediately glanced at the name tag pinned on the waiter's right pocket.

Junghan.


	4. totally worth it

Junghan woke up from his planned afternoon nap with his phone ringing excessively. 

He thought he could manage to get the whole afternoon to himself in peace, considering the school special holiday gave him no afternoon classes. He had planned to sleep, wake up by dinner, do some updating on his projects, and then head over to work. Unfortunately, that seemed impossible. His phone continued to ring, a specific ringtone that meant it was Wonwoo, knowing how the latter had messed with his phone.

He answered the call eventually, groggily letting out a "what do you want?" as he rolled around the bed, taking note that the other bed in the room was empty. 

"Come to work."

"It's 5PM," Junghan replied, having checked the room's wall clock. "I don't need to be there with Junhui till 12. Actually, what are you doing there? You don't start till 10."

"I dropped by to bring some pizza back to my dorm for dinner. I'm not kidding, man, you're gonna really want to come here."

Even if the other couldn't see him, Junghan rolled his eyes, "what would possibly make me want to sacrifice sleep for?"

"It's a surprise."

"Answer me or I'm heading back to sleep."

"Fine," Wonwoo whined over the phone. "Ruin the surprise then. I have three words for you: I love you."

Junghan, in his still half-asleep state, was really confused for about 10 seconds before what Wonwoo just said came crashing into his head and distant memories of last night invaded his system, and suddenly, he just didn't feel sleepy anymore. He shot up his bed, sitting up with his hair flying all over the place (he should get a haircut soon) and tried not to let go of his phone.

"Say that again."

"I'd rather not say those three words to you again."

"You know what I meant!" Junghan said, getting up from his bed at the same time and trying to remember where he last saw his uniform. "He's there? Are you sure?"

"100%," Wonwoo said confidently, before quietly adding in, "he's friends with that one customer who keeps ignoring me."

"The tall one? Mingyu?"

"That one," a loud sigh came from the other line. "I'm hanging up now. Get here as soon as possible."

Junghan threw the phone on his bed at that moment, changed into his uniform, and took a quick look in the mirror. His hair was in a complete bed head state, so he took a hairband and quickly pulled it into a loose ponytail. It suddenly occurred to him that he was actually feeling nervous. For what? It's not like he expected anything to happen with whoever the other boy was. Maybe he was being a bit too excited over things. It was too late now, though, since he was already dressed. Making friends didn't seem like a bad idea, anyway. If he could make friends with him, that is. 

When he exited the room, Junghan was met with Junhui sitting in the living room eating noodles. His roommate raised his eyebrows and looked at Junghan from head to toe. 

"If you're going to ask me to work more shifts, I'm going back to China," he said flatly. 

"No time to explain," Junghan said quickly as he flashed a quick grin. "Wonwoo called. Customer from last night. Bye!" 

 

When Junghan entered Pledis Pizza, he was immediately pulled to the side by Wonwoo, who then began dragging him to the kitchen. Junghan continued to feel nervous at the idea that his mystery customer was actually in the same area as him, but he tried to shake it off. It really shouldn't matter that much. What happened was an accident, really, it's not like they actually love each other or anything--

"Are you listening?" Wonwoo hissed as Junghan snapped back to the present. The former rolled his eyes, "right corner table, where Soonyoung is pouring water for. Guess what they ordered? Cheese and bacon pizza. It's hilarious, apparently all the other guys said it except for yours. I guess it spread to them too." 

Junghan felt a bit better at the idea that it wasn't only him suffering from the consequences of last night's happenings. Then again, it was caused by the other boy to begin with, he had just played along and suddenly now he's caught in a situation he never would have imagined himself in; trying to get together with the store's customer and all that. 

"Which one is he?" He asked, tiptoeing to look over Wonwoo's shoulder.

"Why don't you guess?" 

There were six people in their table. It could have been any of them, however Junghan easily ruled out Mingyu, who was a familiar face in Pledis Pizza. Also because Wonwoo often tried to get Mingyu to engage in a conversation with him, but the taller boy always escaped. One of them didn't even look that Korean, and two others were talking excitedly. Junghan recalled the soft tone of the voice and ruled all three of them out as well, since they looked like people with bright energy, and maybe even loud voices. They also looked like they wanted to be there. He wasn't sure of the reasoning he was going with, but still. It was a gut feeling.

He was left with two of them, then. One with rainbow icecream coloured hair, who barely spoke at all and looked like a lost puppy- there was something about the sight that reminded him of when he first met Junhui, who was fresh from China with little Korean knowledge. A foreign feeling. Then there was the last boy who sat beside him. He looked Korean, with dark brown hair and rather wide eyes. He laughed along with the rest but with his hand covering his mouth, in a shy type of way. Every now and then, his eyes would drift around the store, as if waiting for something to happen, fidgeting in his seat slightly. Nervous. 

That, and he was really goodlooking. 

Wonwoo nudged him, "got your eyes locked on somebody yet?" 

"The guy in the white long sleeved shirt," he mumbled. "He feels... I don't know, right?" 

Junghan regretted the moment those words slipped out of his mouth, and felt his face heat up at the sight of Wonwoo with his wide, clearly teasing grin. He groaned and wanted to wipe the grin off the other's face, but settled for lightly pushing at the boy's shoulder instead. 

"Quit with the look! Am I right?" 

"Way to go, Sherlock!" Wonwoo cheered, patting his shoulder. "I got Soonyoung to try and see if he could get your boy's name." 

Junghan was torn between thanking him and hitting him again. Instead, he focused on the fact that he was right, and the cute, shy looking boy was indeed his 1AM call customer. The voice suited the face, he concluded, and so did the rest of him. He looked like a kind soul. At least, Junghan definitely hoped he was. 

"Did you tell everybody by now?" He asked, and was met with a nod that made him roll his eyes and sarcastically reply back with "thanks, Wonwoo." 

Soonyoung chose that moment to return. He used to work night shifts with the rest of them, before he changed his schedule. Junghan got to work with him for a few weeks nonetheless. He was also good friends with another good friend of Junghan, Jihoon, but no amount of persuasion could get that guy to work at a pizza place. Anyway, the sharp eyed Soonyoung had a smile on his face that almost made his eyes disappear as he approached them. That, and really bright, often messed up, blonde hair. 

"Nice to see you, Lover Boy," Soonyoung greeted, making Junghan want to facepalm into a pizza. "I've got a table I'm sure you would love to serve." 

Before Junghan could ask, Wonwoo did it for him. 

"Did you get the name?" 

"I've got tiger ears to match my tiger eyes," Soonyoung said excitedly, making Junghan smile a bit at his upbeat attitude. "I heard them tease him. His name is Jisoo." 

Jisoo. 

Junghan caught himself thinking he could get used to that, before quickly pushing it away from his thoughts because things have definitely reached a different sort of level that he wasn't sure what to say or even feel. Wonwoo shared a quick fistbump with Soonyoung for a job well done, while Junghan caught himself staring in Jisoo's direction again. He looked away just as Jisoo's eyes began to wander around again. 

"When does their order finish?" 

"Right now, actually," Soonyoung said just as somebody from the kitchen yelled out a table number. "Go get 'em." 

Junghan swiftly went over and carried the two plates of pizza. Cheese and bacon, without the extra heart this time. He gave himself a small pep talk as he walked over to the table. It's not like Jisoo had any idea how he looked like, or his name, so he should be pretty safe heading over. It won't raise any sort of suspicion. He's not sure why he was so anxious about 'meeting' Jisoo either, but regardless of reason, his heart was pumping in his chest pretty quickly. Soon, he reached the table.

"Here are your pizzas!" He announced cheerfully, in his usual manner. 

The boys all cheered. 

Except for Jisoo. 

Junghan inwardly panicked as he set the plates down, aware that Jisoo was staring at him with wide eyes. That was when it hit him that Jisoo could probably recognize his voice. He did have a rather higher type of voice than others. Breathe, he reminded himself, don't mess things up. He finished setting the plates down and watched how the other guys immediately went for a slice. Jisoo was still not moving.

"Can I get you anything else?" 

Junghan directed the question to the table, but his eyes went to look at Jisoo. He was surprised to find the boy staring back, almost in a kind of dull shock. When their eyes met, Jisoo looked away with what appeared to be a blush on his face. Junghan began to muse that that was probably how he looked like last night on the phone, red in the face with embarrassment all over his features, and he couldn't help but find it absolutely adorable. 

Jisoo must have realized the other guys were too busy eating the pizza (despite just coming from lunch) to reply. 

"T-that would be all," he said softly, his voice just as Junghan remembered it. 

Junghan flashed a teasing grin, "no extras?"

He shouldn't have enjoyed how the blush that appeared on Jisoo's face deepened, but he did. 

"No, thank you."

Jisoo wasn't even looking at him anymore, instead his eyes were directed downwards, and Junghan took that as his cue to walk back to the kitchen, a permanent smile plastered on his face. As he was walking off, he heard a vague "Jisoo, why is your face all red?" followed by other things he couldn't quite catch. When he glanced over from the counter, Jisoo had his face in his hands, as if to shield himself from his friends' teasing, since the boy beside him was shaking his shoulder animatedly. 

"Did they know who you are?" Wonwoo asked, popping up beside him, eyeing the table as well. 

"I think they guessed."

"Am I right about him being your type?"

Junghan considered it for a few seconds, before finally saying:

"You know what? I think you are."


	5. excuses, excuses

In all honesty, Jisoo was expecting his first encounter with Junghan to go worse than it did. 

At the sound of the familiar voice, he had looked up to make sure the name tag verified the person and it did. Junghan did not look like what he expected him to look, although Jisoo didn't exactly have an image in mind. He did not, however, imagine Junghan to look rather... what was the word? Delicate? Feminine? Yeah. Despite the soft features and the rather long, brownish ponytail, the other boy also had certain aspects that were in some ways, attractive.

Not that Jisoo just spent a rather long period of time staring at him as he brought the plates of pizza down. 

Okay, maybe he was staring more than he was supposed to. 

"Can I get you anything else?" 

Jisoo wanted to him himself because he was still staring at the other boy, thus making their eyes meet and his face blush immediately. Junghan was staring right at him, a small smile playing on his lips as he did so. Jisoo's heart began to beat faster as he considered that maybe Junghan actually knew who he was and he was about to die of shame right then and there. The other guys were too busy getting their own slices of pizza to notice. 

""T-that would be all," he all but mumbled, cursing himself because did he just stutter and he realized his mistake that moment too, because a playful glint appeared in Junghan's eyes, matched with a cheshire-like grin that was definitely teasing him.

"No extras?"

Jisoo wished a hole would open up from under him and swallow him whole. He moved his eyes and focused on anything else but the boy before him, certain his face was still some embarrassing shade of red. What is it with everybody teasing him?

"No, thank you," he replied, thankfully without stuttering this time. 

When Junghan turned to walk away, Jisoo found himself staring after him again, still in a slight state of disbelief that he actually met him. Did the guy not sleep or something? Or did he really have enough energy to work both in the afternoon and during ungodly hours in the night? 

"Jisoo, why is your face all red?"

Jisoo's focus snapped back to his friends, specifically Seokmin, who had spoken.

Realization dawned on Hansol's face in a flash.

"That waiter! His voice! I've heard it before," Hansol's smile grew wider and wider with each word. "That was him, wasn't it? Am I right? I'm pretty sure I'm right."

Jisoo didn't even have time to reply, because Hansol soon got the attention of everybody else in the table. Simultaneously, they turned their heads to the direction Junghan went, saw the ponytail, and looked back at Jisoo, who buried his face in his hands for the second time that day, already anticipating the comments that will be thrown at him. They all spoke in rapid Korean that made Jisoo's head hurt for a moment.

"You didn't even tell us!" Seungcheol complained.

"We were distracted by the pizza," Minghao said sadly.

"I didn't see his face yet," Seokmin whined, about to look back but Hansol quickly stopped the movement.

"We don't want him to know we're checking him out, play it cool, man."

Mingyu began lightly shaking Jisoo's shoulder, "we have questions, Jisoo, c'mon."

Jisoo finally raised his head, careful not to automatically glance at the front counter in case Junghan was still there. There was still feeling a burning sensation in his cheeks, and all his friends were still staring at him expectantly.

"Were there sparks? Did you feel the chemistry?" Seokmin asked, wiggling his eyebrows. 

"You're all overreacting," Jisoo groaned. "Absolutely nothing of interest happened between me and Junghan--"

He stopped abruptly because damn it, that was a mistake to say.

Hansol's mouth gaped in surprise, "you know his name."

"H-he had a name tag!"

"Still," Seungcheol smirked. "You checked."

"I still haven't seen his face..." Seokmin muttered. 

"We should call for the bill," Hansol offered, before he turned back and raised a hand in the air, signaling for the check. 

Jisoo threw a plastic spoon at him as he whined, "Hansol, stop."

"He's not there though."

Jisoo sighed in relief. Suddenly Mingyu, who has been quiet for a while, violently placed his cup of water down, splashing some on the table and getting the attention of the other boys, just as somebody came up to their table. Mingyu stared at the figure, and Jisoo realized he wasn't dressed in a uniform so he probably wasn't a waiter of any sort, which meant it was safe for him to look up to. He was wrong. He was surprised to find Wonwoo, the delivery guy from last night, grinning.

"Hi, Mingyu," he greeted.

Mingyu opened his mouth as if about to speak, before quickly closing it again. He opted to wave instead.

Things were beginning to be thoroughly confusing for Jisoo as he stared back and forth from the two. He knew Mingyu ate at Pledis Pizza but he didn't expect him to know people- or rather, have people know him. At least, he realized that the group's focus has shifted away from him, and he was thankful for that. 

Nevermind. He spoke too soon. Wonwoo was staring at him.

"And hello again, customer from last night," he greeted cheerfully. "I've heard all about you."

It took Jisoo a few moments to process that Junghan talked about him and when he did, it succeeded in making his face flush again. He couldn't stop his eyes from glancing over to the counter, only to find that the ponytailed boy still wasn't there. He was torn between a mix of relief and disappointed. He wasn't sure which one worried him more, either. He gave an awkward smile back at Wonwoo, who chuckled at the response.

"If you're looking for Junghan, he left because he was called back by his roommate. Unwillingly, may I add."

"I wasn't--" Jisoo started to say, but was cut off by the bill being placed on the table right in front of him.

"Bill's taken care of," Wonwoo said, giving a small smirk directed towards Mingyu. "Courtesy of Junghan and myself."

Minghao let out a low whistle, and a soft "wow", followed by surprised looks from everybody in the table except for Mingyu, who merely rolled his eyes.

"What's the catch, Wonwoo?"

"Go out with me?"

"No," he replied back dryly.

"I tried," Wonwoo shrugged, as if it was a normal, everyday happening, and Jisoo was beginning to consider that maybe it was. Mingyu hardly spoke about much things, and he was roomed with Minghao, who didn't gossip about everything either (unlike a certain half-American boy Jisoo was stuck with). The other boy's attention was soon fixed on him, his grin still in place. "How about you? Want to go on a date with Junghan?"

Jisoo found himself at a lost for an answer. 

He should be shaking his head, and saying "no" because... well, wasn't that the right thing to do, considering the situation he clearly did not want to be in because everything that happened so far was because of an accident. However the image of Junghan, with his cheeky little grin and general playful tone, invaded his thoughts and Jisoo just straight up hesitated. To his disappointed, the table's focus was back to him, everybody staring at him with a look of question in their eyes, as if they too were curious about why it took so long for Jisoo to reply. 

Finally, he opened his mouth to speak.


	6. phone calls are nice

"Yeah."

Junhui stared wide-eyed at Junghan, who kept up his wide grin all the way from Pledis Pizza back to their dorm, and into their shared room, immediately making the Chinese boy curious- sure, Junghan normally had a cheerful disposition, but his current look with the wide grin and dazed eyes was a new sight. He should have known it would have something to do with the customer from last night.

"You're serious? You met him?" 

Junghan sighed and slowly repeated, "yes, Junhui, I met the customer from last night. He's... well, he's alright." Another smile began to grow on his face as he recalled Jisoo and his shy boy reactions, specifically how easily he blushed and turned nervous. He had expected a timid sort of fellow, but Jisoo exceeded expectations. 

Junhui scoffed, "alright? You sound infatuated already. How easy can you get?" 

"I'm not infatuated," Junghan shot back. "I'm not easy either, what have I actually done? I just..." He paused, and a sneaky grin appeared on his face. "I guess you can say I developed a crust on him." 

He dodged the pillow Junhui threw his way.

"What did you call me back for anyway?" Junghan asked as he picked the fallen pillow up and settled down on his bed. "You sounded distressed." 

"Oh," Junhui nodded. "Right. I forgot I have homework due this afternoon because Mr. Park is terrible and a holiday means nothing to that man. I need your help." 

Junghan rolled his eyes, "that's it? You couldn't have called Jihoon or Chan?" 

"Chan hasn't even learned this yet, and I did call Jihoon," Junhui pouted. "He hung up on me because I woke him up." 

"Fine," Junghan finally said, deciding that his thoughts needed a break from Jisoo, and that he really didn't need to see Junhui pouting. "Let's get started on that." 

 

 

Junghan never should have agreed to this. 

"Just two pages left!" Junhui happily announced. 

"You only need three pages."

"Oh, right..."

Junghan would have definitely preferred having his own thoughts invaded by Jisoo rather than have to spend an entire hour slowly trying to help Junhui translated his assignment. He should have slept again too. The other boy would try his best to properly describe his idea, which Junghan then had to find a way to say in proper Korean. It wouldn't have been that hard, if it wasn't for the fact that Junhui would sometimes slip into Chinese, and that his way of thinking was too 4D for Junghan to really grasp. Plus it was about Korean history- even Junghan knew none of that. 

"I never should have agreed to this," Junghan voiced out his thoughts as he sat beside Junhui on the living room sofa, laptop between them. 

"But you always do," Junhui replied back sweetly. "That's why you're Angel Junghan, right?" 

"That's because of my birthday." 

"It suits you." 

"I wish you were normally this nice," Junghan exaggerated a sigh. 

Junhui's comeback was interrupted by the loud ringing of Junghan's phone- it was that familiar ringtone again, which meant Wonwoo, which immediately linked to Pledis Pizza, and then finally: Jisoo, because the last time Junghan spoke to Wonwoo, the latter had mentioned going up to the table. The phone was on his ear in a flash. 

"Put it on speaker!" Junhui complained, tugging at his sleeve, and Junghan decided to just go ahead and agree, balancing the phone on the laptop. 

"Wonwoo!" Junghan greeted happily, earlier's fatigue gone. 

"I should be your favourite person on the planet right now." 

"That depends," Junghan mused. "What happened when I left?" 

Wonwoo went into a detailed description of what happened, laughing now and then. Namely, how he went over and was thoroughly shot down by Mingyu again, but at least he spoke more than three words to him that time. Junghan told him to skip to the parts with Jisoo, which Wonwoo did so eventually. Junghan easily imagined the reactions Wonwoo described, because really, it was just too easy to see Jisoo flustered. 

"Are you still there?" Junghan asked.

There was a pause.

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"What else happened?"

"I asked him if he wanted to go on a date with you," Wonwoo said, a bit too calmly for Junghan's taste.

"And?" Junghan pressed on, leaning closer to the phone.

Wonwoo sighed, "I'm so jealous. Why is it so easy for you?"

Junghan gaped at the phone- "what?"

"Do I need to grow my hair longer too? Will that help?"

There was some sort of loud noises coming from the background, like unfamiliar voices, but Junghan just passed it off as the store's customers. He continued to stare at the phone with nothing coming out of his mouth, making Junhui roll his eyes beside him.

"Junghan here doesn't understand Korean anymore," Junhui suddenly butted in. "Make it a clear answer. Is it a yes or a no?"

Junghan stopped midway hitting Junhui's shoulder.

"Yes? It's a yes? He said yes?" Junghan asked over and over, eyes wide in surprise, still staring at his phone in shock as if Wonwoo could see his face. He did not expect Jisoo to say yes. Well, to be fair, despite teasing the other boy, he expected the whole pizza thing to last only a day or so, until it wears out or until their friends get tired of teasing them. Speaking of which, Wonwoo also described the surprised looks Jisoo got from his friends, and added that 'they were all cool with it and just as excited as we are for you.'

He had to process it again.

Jisoo said yes.

Jisoo was actually okay with things stepping up a notch, despite how everything was an accidental situation blown up by their friends. 

Jisoo said yes to a date with him.

"Earth to Junghan?" Wonwoo said over the phone. "Junhui, did he die or something?"

"I hope not, I still need to finish my homework."

"I'm fine," Junghan finally spoke, "he really said yes?"

"Did you want him to say no?"

"No!" He exclaimed- causing both his roommate, and the boy on the phone to snicker. "Thanks for letting me know, Wonwoo, I'm gonna go lie down and try to catch my breath now."

"You're really into Jisoo, huh?"

"Bye!"

"Wait--"

Junghan ended the call before the other could continue. It was honestly a weird sensation. He wasn't sure what it was actually, but his skin felt tingly and the grin he had looked like it could break his face, which was alarming. He didn't even notice how much of his hair had fallen over his face, which usually made him push it back again. Jisoo agreed to go on a date with him. He did not expect working the night shift at Pledis Pizza to have such perks. 

Junhui shook his head, "like I said. Totally infatuated."

"I am not," Junghan denied half-heartedly. 

"Can I ask something?" Junhui said, and continued without waiting for a reply. "First of all, how are you going to go on this date with Jisoo when you have no way of contacting him? I mean sure, we have a phone number and address saved but the number could be someone else's and you can't just show up there."

Junghan didn't want to admit it, but Junhui had a point.

"I am dumb," he said quietly as he looked for Wonwoo's name in his contact list. "I am so dumb."

"I see you realized your mistake," was what Wonwoo greeted him with when the call connected, still on speaker phone. Junhui exclaimed from the side that he was the one who realized it, and that Junghan was too distracted by the idea, and the latter couldn't really deny it. 

"So..." Junghan started. "How will this go again?"

"I'm glad you asked," Wonwoo replied back cheerfully, and Junghan could almost see the wide grin on the other boy's face. "Hold on just a sec."

"What?"

There were some more noises- the same unfamiliar voices, a few more particularly loud, random sounds that Junghan couldn't really decipher, but overall things sounded a tad bit different compared to the usual sounds he would hear around the store. He couldn't hear the sound of pizza being flipped around, stuff being fried, or orders being called, which should have been clear considering Wonwoo should be around the counter.

Unless.

"Hello?"

Okay, that definitely wasn't Wonwoo's voice anymore.


	7. it's actually happening

Jisoo waited for a reply from the other end. His heart was still pounding in his chest, and the phone felt like it would slip away from his hand at any given moment as he held it against his ear. He tried to ignore the eager faces of the people around him, which included Hansol practically biting into his fist to prevent himself from commenting too much on what was happening around him. There was also Wonwoo, who seemed to have a permanently smug look on his face. He still didn't know the deal between him and Mingyu.

"Jisoo?"

He breathed out a sigh of relief, unaware that he was actually holding his breath, because for a moment he had wondered if maybe Junghan had disappeared all of a sudden. 

However.

"You know my name?"

Wonwoo laughed loudly at that, while Hansol silently reacted by pretending to freak out; or maybe he really was freaking out. He seemed way too excited about everything and Seokmin had to hold him back in place. Jisoo could hear another voice on the phone go 'way to go, Junghan' and he tried to keep himself from smiling, but failed in the end, allowing a small smile to grace his face. 

"Aw, look, he's smiling," Mingyu cooed softly, which led Seungcheol to motion for him to keep quiet.

"Sorry," came the voice from the other line, followed by another soft 'ow!' in the background. "I heard it from your friends, I didn't really mean to, it was when I was walking away and I just... heard it..." There was a slight pause, in which Jisoo wasn't sure if he was supposed to speak again but then Junghan continued. "So yeah. Hi. Date?"

Jisoo's face heated up immediately as he heard the last word. Was he really agreeing to this? 

"Yes," he found himself saying. "I would like that." 

It began to dawn on him that this was actually happening, he's talking to somebody and making plans for a date, and panic began to seep in as Jisoo worried over if he would end up saying the wrong things, or make some other form of mistake that would end up with things going wrong. He fidgeted in his seat and swallowed dryly as he waited for Junghan's response.

"Wonderful!" The other boy chirped, his voice slightly going higher. The tone of excitement almost washed away most of Jisoo's nervousness, but just almost. "Absolutely great. Do I text you? I mean, not like I have your number, but... well, not yet. Unless that was the number Pledis Pizza has but-- not that I saved that one I just meant--" 

Jisoo listened on, the small smile from earlier growing wider, and all traces of worry suddenly disappearing. He let out a small laugh, his free hand coming to his face to cover his mouth. The other guys raised their eyebrows at him in surprise, and he smiled slyly at them, peaking their interest. Jisoo mused to himself tht was nice to know that Junghan, despite coming off as a cool and collected guy at first, could also blunder up like a normal human. Specifically, like Jisoo, because he was though he was the only one who got really shy in their current situation. 

"Really smooth," the voice in the background said again while a slightly muffled 'keep quiet, Junhui' came from Junghan, probably farther from the phone. 

"What I meant to say," Junghan finally continued, back to being beside the phone as he cleared his throat. "Is can I have your number?" 

"Sure," Jisoo shyly replied. "I'll text this number later." 

Hansol nodded in reaction to that, mouthing the word 'niceeee' and sharing a high-five with Seungcheol. Seokmin was pretending to wipe a tear away, muttering something like 'our Jisoo is all grown up' while Mingyu hit his shoulder. Minghao continued to stare at Jisoo with wide, curious eyes. 

"That will be awesome," came Junghan's reply. "I'll look forward to it. I can't wait. I'm really excited. This is so unreal. I should really stop talking now."

Jisoo chuckled, "I think so, Junghan."

Wonwoo snickered at that, and leaned closer to the phone to speak, "he's gonna die because you said his name."

"Maybe just a little," Junghan laughed and said over the phone, catching Jisoo off guard with the bluntness. 

There was a sudden loud thud from the other line, followed by a vague mess of Korean words, and what sounded like Mandarin, in the background.

"Is... everything okay there?" Jisoo asked, concerned, but also genuinely amused that whatever his reactions were would end up mirrored on the faces of everybody else, as he also managed to get the other guys worried as well. 

Junghan voice came on, sounding about 99% done with life, "I have to help my roommate with some stuff, he just realized he only has 30 minutes left till the deadline and rolled off the sofa. Holiday homeworks are the worst, right? We'll be fine though. I'll talk to you later?"

The last bit had a hopeful tone to it that made Jisoo hold back a grin again, because there was actually going to be a later, and everything suddenly seemed a bit too good to be true. It was still odd considering the beginning of their... relationship? Can he call it a relationship? Friendship, maybe, for now. Pouring over his paper that night didn't feel like such a bad thing anymore. 

Okay, and the pizza was good too.

"Yeah," Jisoo said. "I'll talk to you later. Bye."

"No 'I love you' this time?" Junghan teased.

It succeeded in making Jisoo's face a certain shade of red again, as he opened and closed his mouth like a gaping fish trying to come up with an answer, much to the amusement of the other boys around the table. He was not in a dazed state, since it was close to the middle of the afternoon and he was not extremely tired, which meant what he heard was definitely not some sort of illusion.

"It's so easy to get him flustered," Hansol chuckled. "Look at his face, man."

Junghan spoke again since Jisoo was still trying to process an answer.

"I'm kidding, Jisoo," Junghan's now-familiar laugh rang in his ear. "I have to hang up, I'm being dragged away. See ya!"

Jisoo put the phone down, staring at it in his hand for a few seconds before Wonwoo waved his own hand in front of his face, snapping him back to the present. Hansol released his fist and along with the rest, was grinning widely.

"You're actually going to get it on with the pizza guy," Hansol said, wiggling his eyebrows. "We could get unlimited supply of pizza!"

"That's not how it works, Hansol," Jisoo tried to say seriously, but couldn't help but laugh in the end. 

Wonwoo nudged his hand, still containing the phone.

"Get his number, I have to go bring pizza back to my dorm."

Jisoo dutifully whipped out his own phone and copied down Junghan's number, while the others started making small talk over what happened. Seokmin was still whining over how they had no idea how Junghan looks like, while Seungcheol focused on commenting about Jisoo's extreme blushing reactions. Minghao was repeating how it was so nice, and so cute, and how he's so happy for Jisoo while Mingyu nodded along- he had been strangely quiet ever since Wonwoo came around. 

"Done," Jisoo said softly, before holding the phone back out to Wonwoo.

"A'ight, catch you guys later," Wonwoo turned on his heels and began to walk away. He stopped a few steps away and looked back. "Bye Mingyu!"

Mingyu rolled his eyes and took a sip of water, not looking back. 

"Harsh as always," Wonwoo continued, grinning for some reason, before he sped off. 

Seungcheol eyed Mingyu with narrowed eyes, "I'm more interested in you and Wonwoo now that things are going well for Jisoo over here."

Jisoo beamed, thankful for the change of focus. 

Seokmin nodded in agreement, "yeah, have you ever mentioned that guy? Why didn't we have any idea that you had a pizza boy of your own?"

"Was he the guy you mentioned back in the dorm?" Minghao asked innocently.

"That," Mingyu chuckled as he stood up, stopping anybody from asking more questions, "will be a story for another day. Can we go back now? I'm going to sleep."

There was really nothing left to be said, so Seungcheol shrugged and agreed, but under the premise that Mingyu had to tell them eventually. The other boys realized that they had a free day and that sleep was definitely an option. The hype about Junghan for the day was over, Jisoo had his number, his friends had their fair share of teasing him and also getting into the excitement themselves. They all stood up and prepared to leave, with Seokmin slinging an arm around Hansol's shoulder, chatting him up about different pizza flavours. 

Meanwhile, Jisoo was lost in thought about how and what he was going to text Junghan.


	8. making the plans

Junghan felt like he could pass out on the sofa, and also he really wanted to throw something to get Junhui to stop doing his little "victory dance" or something in the living room. The homework was passed with just a few minutes to spare and the Chinese boy was ecstatic. However for Junghan, the remaining time they spent working on it managed to get him more stressed than working at Pledis Pizza ever did. He was glad that was finally over. 

Speaking of Pledis Pizza, and as if to act as a valiant reward for his services towards Junhui that afternoon, his phone trilled its familiar ringtone.

Junhui grabbed the phone off the table in a flash.

"Give it baaack," Junghan whined, dragging himself off the sofa in an attempt to snatch his phone back. "Shouldn't I be the first one to read my first ever text message from Jisoo?"

"How sure are you it's from Jisoo?"

"I have high hopes," he grinned lazily, reaching his arm out for his phone. "Give it."

Junhui placed the phone on his hand soon enough, "since you helped me." He skipped his way to their shared room, and happily announced, "I'm gonna go take a nap. Wake me up for dinner. Tell me what happens."

Junghan made sure the other boy was safely inside the room before he fell back to his original position on the sofa, phone clutched in his hand. He hasn't even looked at the screen yet because Junhui had a point- what if it wasn't Jisoo? Then again, what if it was? There was a strange sense of nervousness that washed over him as he mentally and emotionally prepared himself.

"It's just a text message," Junghan said to himself as he took a deep breath. "Stop being so nervous."

It dawned on him suddenly that he actually developed a crush on Jisoo in a span of less than 24 hours, and a good part of him wanted to blame his friends but he knew that it was all his fault as well. It was bad enough that Jisoo was adorable over the phone, but there was also how the other boy was equally adorable and even attractive to a certain degree in person, even if they didn't really get to talk much apart from phone calls. He was easy to tease, and his reactions made it even better, and Junghan found himself smiling without even realizing it.

The realization that he actually liked Jisoo, however, made him much, much, much more nervous to check his phone. Finally, he released his death grip on his phone just enough to see the screen and unlock it . It came from an unknown number, and it wasn't the same number Pledis Pizza had (so he may have kinda memorized it, just in case). 

Hi, Junghan ^^   
\- Jisoo 

Before Junghan could come with what to say, another message followed it. 

I hope I'm not interrupting or anything D: 

It may have taken Junghan a longer time than usual to reply to the first message since he did spend some time worrying over it and reading Jisoo's first ever text to him over and over again, which sent him into a panicked state because of course Jisoo wasn't interrupting anything and he quickly texted back to tell him just that. 

You're not! I was just processing that this is actually happening. Hi, Jisoo!!! :D 

"Does three exclamation points look too eager..." Junghan mused out loud as he stared at his phone, glad that his roommate wasn't around because he would have gotten an eye roll and a snarky comment from him one way or another, not to mention, a comment about how he was totally head-over-heels for the other guy which he didn't need to hear anymore since he knew it just fine. While waiting for Jisoo's reply, he took the time to save the number on his phone. He didn't know his last name yet so he settled for labeling it with 'Jisoo' and a pizza emoji, smiling to himself afterwards because it was actually a cute idea, just like Jisoo. 

Their next few text messages went smoothly enough. Jisoo asked about how the date thing was going to work, making Junghan smile widely to himself the whole time they exchanged messages because he was pretty sure Jisoo was being all blushy and shy himself. If he could stutter through a text message, he probably would. They discussed school, each other's courses, regular small talk, really.They gave each other's class schedules to compare, and found that they actually have two breaks at the same time. Junghan's classes ended earlier than Jisoo's though.

Does dinner tomorrow sound good? It's a Saturday~

Junghan read the text again and again before he hit send, his heart thumping in his chest as he waited for Jisoo's reply.

Sounds great! ^^   
Where are we going?

Junghan replied without really thinking it through.

We could always go for some pizza :D

The idea of being surrounded by his coworkers during a date suddenly seemed like a really stupid idea and Junghan desperately wanted to undo the text he just sent but that wasn't possible. Jisoo had replied.

Sure~ I can meet you there~

Well, it was too late now. At least he realized the mistake of saying 'It's okay, I can pick you up, I know where you live' because that would have made things very weird. Junghan agreed, and after a few more tidbits of texting, they set up a specific time for them to meet up. It made him feel all warm inside when he actually texted the words 'see you!' and having it sent back to him. It was satisfying to some extent and he spent some time reading through their messages again that he hadn't realized Junhui standing by their room's doorway till the Chinese boy spoke.

"You totally forgot about dinner, didn't you?" Junhui asked, not really expecting an answer as he walked over to the kitchen. "Ramen for tonight then. How was texting Jisoo?"

Junghan got up from the sofa and made his way to the kitchen to fix his share of ramen, "it went absolutely great. We have a date tomorrow."

"Where?"

"I'd rather not tell you."

Junhui pouted as he heated a pot with water, "why not?"

"You are either going to laugh at me, or be there when the date happens, and I want to avoid both," Junghan replied, laughing at his roommate's reaction.

"No way!" Junhui exclaimed, shaking his head violently to prove a point. "I'll be good. Unless..." 

He paused, and slowly turned to look at Junghan, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"Don't tell me your date is at Pledis Pizza."

Junghan scratched at his neck sheepishly, "well... That's where it all started?"

"I am judging you on so many levels now," Junhui said seriously at first, before breaking into a fit of laughter as Junghan attempted to throw the nearest thing to him- a powder packet from the ramen- but decided against it, choosing instead to grin at his friend because his mood was really too high up there to be brought down. 

"Dinner at a pizza place," Junhui said,shaking his head, "that's something."

"Quit judging and get started on the ramen," Junghan shot back, grin still in place. 

"Sure," Junhui smoothly replied. There were a few moments of silence before he continued:

"Oh and also? I am definitely going to be there tomorrow."


	9. into the mind of Hong Jisoo

Jisoo woke up that day with the first thought in his mind being the 5 page long paper he had to finish before Monday, that he still did not have the chance to finish the night before simply because he was preoccupied with other things. Specifically, those other things included Junghan, their date, and well, it's really just those two; well, maybe also Hansol, who took up the rest of the night chatting him up about what happened, and what will be happening.

In a way, perhaps it's actually Junghan who was first on his mind, and not his paper. 

He'll never admit to that, though.

To be honest, Jisoo was still on the fence about everything. He figured agreeing on a date (if it could really be called a date, maybe more like a dinner? Hansol had said it was a date though, but is it really?) with Junghan will make things a bit less awkward considering the situation they were both in. The situation that was caused by himself, and his 1AM mistakes, and maybe Junghan didn't even want anything to do with him. It had been Wonwoo who brought up the idea of a date afterall. He had agreed due to a rush of emotions in that certain situation.

Still. Junghan had been extremely cheerful over the phone, and was really nice when they discussed the details of the date, and other stuff. Jisoo rolled over on his bed as he contemplated the situation some more, debating with himself whether there was actually something going on or not. Junghan could have just been really interested in making a new friend, and was excited about Jisoo agreeing to get to know each other better. Maybe there was something about him that just exuded a friendly demeanour. Did he like Junghan? Well...

There was no way Junghan was actually interested in Jisoo though, of all people. At least, that was the conclusion Jisoo ended up with as he rolled around his bed some more, ending up staring at the ceiling. He had always been a regular guy. Sure, he can sing, play the guitar, maybe rap if he's up for it but he's just... just Jisoo. He liked keeping quiet; though he also knew how to speak up when he does have to, but overall attention really isn't his thing. 

Meanwhile even if Jisoo has only known the guy for a little more than a day, Junghan just seemed different. He seemed like the type people were drawn to, whether by his rather attractive smile, or the way he laughs so warmly, like he has known you his whole life. He was easy to talk to, which was a good thing because often, Jisoo found himself at a lost for what to say, or stuck with a bad case of stuttering (even if he is guilty of still stuttering around Junghan).

His morning thoughts were interrupted by loud knocking on the door, and Hansol's head popping in.

"Are you awake? I don't know what to make for breakfast."

Jisoo finally sat up, nodding his head, "I'll be out in a minute."

He figured thinking about Junghan can wait. 

 

 

Surprisingly, it took Jisoo more than half of the day before Junghan actually entered his mind again. He filled his day mostly with working on assignments, because they just never ended- honestly what is with university and papers? While there were also tidbits he spent working on learning some songs on his guitar, some time was also spent figuring out what to eat for breakfast and lunch with Hansol. He also helped Hansol with his assignments on more than one occasion as long as the boy asked for it. 

Junghan entered his thoughts again when his roommate and he were debating over food (again) and were deciding what to eat as an afternoon snack. Jisoo wanted chicken nuggets, because chicken, while Hansol said that as much as he liked chicken as well, he was in the mood for pizza. 

Of course it had to be pizza. 

"If you're going to order, I'm not calling," Jisoo said solemnly. "Nor will I answer the door."

Hansol laughed, "why? Everything's already cool anyway. You're even going on a date with him."

"A what--- oh you're right."

The younger boy gawked at him, "you're kidding me! Don't tell me you actually forgot your date with Junghan. It's tonight!" He paused. "Which means we shouldn't get pizza this afternoon, just make sure to bring some home for me later." 

Jisoo gave an awkward smile and soon his thoughts were overrun with Junghan again. The current time was 4PM, which meant he had roughly three more hours to go before he had to meet up with the other boy. That also meant he had three more hours to spend constantly thinking about what could possibly happen later. He wasn't sure what to expect. He had never really been on a date before. It was just not his thing. 

His thoughts were interrupted when he realized how quiet Hansol had been the past few minutes. They agreed on the nuggets, which arrived a few minutes later, and were now both eating on the sofa. Jisoo glanced at the boy to find that the other was staring at him contemplatively, a hand stroking his chin in a manner that meant he was thinking. 

Jisoo raised an eyebrow, "what are you looking at?"

"What will you wear?"

Jisoo hadn't thought of that yet, but soon realized Hansol was right. What was he going to wear? 

"I'm not sure," he said slowly, trying to think of which clothes he had best. "I'll just pick whatever."

"Whatever for your first date with Junghan?" Hansol faked a gasp. "You need to look your best!"

Jisoo lightly blushed because how many times has Hansol mentioned his date? He shook his head and bit on a nugget, "nah. I'm good."

"Are you saying you look good in anything?" Hansol teased.

Jisoo found himself grinning back a little, "maybe." 

That earned him a light punch on the shoulder, with Hansol chuckling to himself and muttering something like "sure, Jisoo, sure." 

 

 

The time was now 6:40PM. Jisoo had showered and worn some pretty okay clothes if he had to judge- nothing fancy, just a regular shirt and jeans. He was ready to leave until Hansol stopped him at the door. After listening to Hansol panic over realizing that he will be left alone, will eat dinner alone, and probably spend the rest of the night alone, Jisoo had agreed to walk with him over to Mingyu's dorm and drop him off there for the night. 

"Looking good, Jisoo!" Mingyu grinned widely, giving him a thumbs up when he met them at the door. Behind him, Minghao was also smiling and giving a double thumbs up, chanting 'so cool~' softly. Seokmin took a photo of Jisoo and mentioned something about sending it for Seungcheol to see so he can witness the moment too, before shooing Jisoo away to make sure he wasn't late. Jisoo sighed in response and wondered again how he got stuck with them. 

With roughly 10 minutes remaining till 7PM, Jisoo began his walk from their dorm over to Pledis Pizza. It was relatively near, so he hoped it wouldn't take him too long even with the little detour he had taken. He was only equipped with his wallet in one pocket, and his phone in another, but it was still pretty okay since the walk was still kind of within school campus, with the pizza place only being a few blocks away. 

Just as he was getting the feel of the cool, night breeze, there was a slight rumbling in the distance.

"Oh no."

Another rumble.

Jisoo tentatively stretched out his hand, palm facing upwards. Just as he expected, he soon felt light raindrops hit his skin and he groaned because he was most definitely not prepared. He had paused in the middle of a sidewalk, debating whether he should run the rest of the route before the rain got harder, which still had risks of getting him wet in case it did get harder, or wait somewhere for it to disappear. Maybe it was just a light drizzle and won't take very long- but that would mean being late for the date and he didn't want that either. 

Surprisingly, a few seconds later the rain stopped.

At least, Jisoo thought it stopped, because there was suddenly a low chuckle coming from behind him and the figure of an umbrella became clear above him.

"Were you really just planning to stand under the rain the entire time?"

Jisoo whirled around, eyes wide in surprise, because Junghan was standing there, that ever present smile on his face as he stared back at Jisoo. His smile grew wider, as he continued:

"You would have missed our date."


	10. the date

Junghan enjoyed teasing Jisoo too much. It wasn't that hard to do for some reason- the latter blushed pretty easily anyway, and that was exactly what he did after Junghan lightly teased him about being late for their date. He had spotted the other boy standing alone, in the light drizzle of the rain, looking like he was trying to figure something out. Luckily, Junghan had brought his umbrella along with him, thanks to Junhui's motherly nagging. 

"Make sure to bring your umbrella," Junhui had said, pushing the handheld umbrella towards him. "It might rain, we'll never know. Have enough money or they can always take it from your salary. Don't make a mess."

"Yeah, don't get your clothes wet, I didn't spend an hour deciding your outfit for nothing."

Jihoon had arrived in their dorm after Junhui had frantically called him since Junghan originally planned to wear something really bad (according to the Chinese boy, anyway, personally Junghan was fine with it) and he desperately needed help. It was also then that Jihoon was filled in about the previous day's happenings, and about why Junghan needed to be dressed up at all. He had reacted differently from the rest as he listened to the story with raised eyebrows and a skeptical expression.

"All this effort for a boy you just met," Jihoon said lightly when he was picking out the clothes. "Isn't this a bit too much, Junghan?"

Junghan had shrugged. He didn't really think it was too much- he already knew he liked Jisoo, anyway, so what he does shouldn't really matter by this point as long as things go well. So if he had to make an effort to get Jisoo to like him back- assuming the shy guy doesn't yet, of course- then why not? Junghan was all up for it anyway. He spent some time debating with the other guys whether he should keep his long, silky hair down, or proceed to tie it up. They both agreed to having it tied up, in the loose fashion he usually does, since that was the look Jisoo was used to as well.

"Plus your hair might get on the food," Junhui added. 

Junhui continued to fuss until he was about to leave. Junghan decided not to remind the other boy about what he said, regarding being there when Junghan's date was going on as well. He hoped Junhui forgot it for the rest of the night. Meanwhile Jihoon had offered some words of luck and watched him leave with a mischievous glint in his eyes, that left Junghan slightly worried but he decided to brush it off. 

So yeah. He figured he had to thank Junhui for the umbrella advice, otherwise he wouldn't have seen Jisoo's adorable shocked expression when Junghan showed up behind him. 

"J-J-junghan!" Jisoo blurted out in surprise. 

Junghan's smile widened immediately, "unless you were planning on being late. Or were you waiting for me here?"

"I wasn't-- I mean, it's not like that--" Jisoo started to say, before he blushed and looked down. "The rain just caught me off-guard, I wasn't sure if I should run or... yeah..." 

"I'm glad I walked my way over then," Junghan said amiably, laughing when Jisoo nodded his head quickly, kind of like a little kid. 

"Yeah, thank you." 

"Let's get going then," Junghan adjusted his grip on the umbrella and beamed at Jisoo. "You should stick closer to me so you won't get rained on in the slightest." 

"Closer... okay..." Jisoo said softly, probably more to himself but Junghan heard it anyway. He tried to hold back his laugh when Jisoo shifted towards him, but just by a bit, their bodies still barely touching. They both began their walk towards Pledis Pizza.

Junghan had to resist the urge to constantly stare at the boy beside him instead of the road before him. Jisoo looked good- maybe even better than before but he couldn't tell why exactly. They were dressed similarly in a shirt and jeans, except Jihoon wanted him to throw a polo shirt over his shirt as well, keeping it open for extra flair. Jisoo looked like he fixed his hair a bit too, maybe a bit of wax to give it an edge. Regardless, Junghan would enjoy staring at the other boy for the night. 

In the silence they spent walking over to Pledis Pizza, Junghan tried to remember who had shifts for the night. Seunggwan started earlier on Saturdays, but Junhui wasn't due till 12AM, just like him. He really hoped the Chinese boy wouldn't just show up, he really really did. Wonwoo shouldn't be around till 10PM, and their dinner might be done by then. It seemed good enough. The other workers in Pledis Pizza were all much younger than he was so they should be pretty nice as well. 

"Hey guys," Junghan greeted when they entered the store, Jisoo following beside him. 

Seunggwan grinned teasingly from behind the counter. He knew all about Jisoo already since the other boys already filled him in during last night's shift. He had reacted like he was suddenly their biggest fan, constantly gushing about how cute the story was turning out so far. He absolutely lost it when Wonwoo brought up their supposed date and how he was going to witness everything. Which was why Junghan knew Seunggwan was acting very well when he spoke. 

"Are you starting early today?" 

Junghan shook his head, tempted to laugh at how natural Seunggwan looked, "nah. I'm a customer today. This is Jisoo by the way." He gestured towards the boy and noticed how Seunggwan almost broke into a fit of giggles. "Jisoo, this is Seunggwan." 

"Hello," Jisoo said, offering a small wave. 

"Yes, yes, hello!" Seunggwan waved back excitedly. "Sit anywhere and we'll be right with you!" 

Junghan couldn't help but laugh at that, "alright." 

He began to guide Jisoo towards the table where they first technically 'met' and noticed how even Jisoo smiled a little at the sight of the corner table. Junghan was very much pleased at that. 

"So," Junghan said as they sat across each other, catching Jisoo's attention. The other boy had really wide eyes, Junghan noticed, for the first time. "What will be your order?" 

Jisoo actually chuckled a little at that, "I thought it would be obvious by now." 

"Cheese and bacon pizza it is!" Junghan laughed heartily. "Do you want pasta? Or maybe some fries? We have good fries, if I say so myself." 

"Is this a date or are you advertising where you work?" Jisoo said, laughing as well before he realized what he said and a light flush appeared on his face. "I mean, if this is a date at all, and well, there's nothing wrong with advertising as well, I just--" 

"Jisoo," Junghan said, holding back his laugh that time and choosing to grin instead, resisting the urge to call the other boy cute when Jisoo stopped talking to stare at him. "Relax." 

Jisoo visibly took a deep breath as Junghan continued.

"And for the record, this is definitely a date, and that's why I want to offer you the best food here. We can always eat somewhere else next time anyway." 

Junghan hoped Jisoo didn't notice how he tried to subtly hint at a next time. Jisoo did blush deeper though, so he probably did catch it. He just nodded instead, averting his eyes from Junghan just as someone came up to their table.

"Are you ready with your order?" 

Junghan's body tensed up. 

Please no. 

He looked up to find Junhui smiling cheekily at him, as if to say 'oh yes.' 

"Why hello, Junghan!" Junhui greeted. "And this must be Jisoo! I've heard so much about y--" 

"Junhui," Junghan interrupted with a groan. Thankfully, Jisoo looked more confused than anything. He sighed as Junhui continued to smile happily at them. "Jisoo, this is Junhui, he's my--" 

"Roommate," Jisoo said suddenly. He offered a shy smile when he noticed both boys' surprised expressions. "I heard him last time we were on the phone."

"Oh, he knows me!" Junhui said excitedly, clapping his hands. "I'll serve you guys tonight." 

"I'd rather you not," Junghan deadpanned, half joking. 

"Too late. Will it be a cheese and bacon pizza?" 

Jisoo laughed in his unique little way, which included covering his mouth slightly, "everybody knows."

"Well," Junghan started to say, actually feeling himself blush a bit at that. "Word gets around." 

He thought seeing the other boy smile was cute enough, but having Jisoo actually smile at him was so much better. His round eyes would turn into perfect crescent shapes and his smile was simply breathtaking that Junghan found himself staring long enough that Junhui needed to nudge his shoulder to get him to look away. 

"What will you have, Lover Boy?" Junhui asked, snickering. 

"Throw in some fries, and make the pizza a large I guess," Junghan turned back to Jisoo as he tried to regain his composure. "What about for drinks?" 

"Water is fine," Jisoo piped up. 

Junhui shook his head, "that won't do! Gotta have a milkshake or something." 

Jisoo thought about it for a while before he ended up nodding, "chocolate milkshake then." 

"Vanilla for me," Junghan wanted to roll his eyes at the sight of Junhui looking all smug and practically wiggling his eyebrows before the Chinese boy disappeared. When he did, Junghan offered Jisoo an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, he wasn't supposed to be at work till later," Junghan complained halfheartedly, because Jisoo was still looking rather amused by everything. 

"It's fine," he replied. "Is he from here though? Junhui sounds foreign." 

"He's from China actually," Junghan said. "But he's been here long enough to know how to converse in Korean naturally." 

Jisoo nodded, "seems like it. I have a friend from China too, Minghao; he's not quite used to it yet but he's getting there." 

They talked a bit more as they waited for their orders to arrive. Junghan got to know Jisoo a bit more and gradually, it felt like Jisoo was getting more comfortable around him as well, which was fantastic. Junghan told some stuff about himself as well, mentioning that his nickname was 'angel' and being surprised that Jisoo agreed and said it suited him. Their talking was cut when their milkshakes were brought over. 

"One chocolate and one vanilla," a different voice said instead of Junhui's. 

Different, but familiar. 

Junghan slowly looked up from the cups to see the grinning face of Jihoon, who wasn't even dressed in the store's uniform and instead just threw an apron over his clothes. The smaller boy winked cheekily, placing a finger to his lips and mouthing 'shhhh' as Junghan gawked at him. Luckily, Jisoo was too preoccupied with trying out his chocolate milkshake to notice what was happening. Jihoon flashed another grin before he disappeared. 

This was definitely planned and Junghan genuinely wondered to what extent his friends were willing to go to mess with him. That, and if Chan was around too. He sure hoped not. He did not need another one of them around to ruin his date. Then again, Junhui and Jihoon wouldn't really do any damage, but still... Knowing they were there at all made Junghan worried. 

"This is so good," Jisoo said suddenly as he took a sip of the milkshake. "So good." 

Junghan laughed because Jisoo was just too cute sometimes- maybe all the time.

"I know, right? The pizza is good too," Junghan paused to watch Jisoo take another sip before he continued. "The company I'm with is the best though." 

Jisoo paused mid-sip and let out a surprised laugh, looking down suddenly as if to avoid having his blushing face be seen. 

Suddenly Junhui popped up beside them again.

"That's so sweet of you, Junghan, I'm happy to be here."

Junghan rolled his eyes but had to laugh a little as Junhui placed their food down. The cheese and bacon pizza had a heart on it made of bacon just like when Junghan first made the same pizza for Jisoo. The blush on the latter's face didn't disappear as he stared at the pizza in a mix of shock and embarrassment. 

Junhui grinned, "enjoy!" 

"Yeah, go away now, Junhui," Junghan said jokingly, but was glad when Junhui did walk away. 

"You like this flavour best?" Junghan asked conversationally as they each got a slice. 

Jisoo shrugged, "yeah, I mean, it tastes good. It's a good combination." 

"Like us, I hope," Junghan said teasingly, expecting the other boy to get all shy and blush again. Instead, Jisoo actually looked contemplative at the comment. 

"I guess so," he finally replied, making Junghan's heart skip a beat when their eyes met because he was not expecting that expression of such honesty and also the answer. He found himself smiling brightly in the end before he took a bite of the pizza to control it. 

Did he actually have a chance with Jisoo, then?


	11. c stands for...

Jisoo had been in an extremely good mood ever since the date began, that it surprised even himself. True, there were definitely moments where he felt that his shyness was showing a lot, but overall it felt really comfortable being around Junghan. The other boy looked great and the first thing Jisoo noticed when he was saved from the rain on the sidewalk was how Junghan liked keeping his hair in a ponytail and how well it suited him. It was hard not to find himself entranced as the night wore on, and he had to fight to keep from staring at Junghan too much. 

That, and Pledis Pizza had really good milkshakes. Chocolate is just the best. 

Jisoo also felt like his face has been a constantly blushing state ever since they got into Pledis Pizza too. There was the appearance of Junghan's roommate, Junhui, and how blatantly he revealed that Junghan actually talks about him and well, Junghan doesn't really deny anything. That, and Junghan had been spouting lines cheesier than their pizza and Jisoo was both amused and thoroughly bashful at those words. It all still seemed too unreal. 

However, if there was anything Jisoo got from the time they spent together so far, it was that he had grown to like Junghan. Or well, he had always subtly liked Junghan or at least ended up crushing on him, but actually getting to know the other boy more made him realize that Junghan was honestly, a really great guy. Like, really great, from his personality to even his looks, which was definitely a bonus. There was something about that ponytail. He had also been really sweet the whole night. 

Jisoo definitely had some sort of feelings for Junghan. He's still on the fence about Junghan liking him back too though, even with all the signs the other boy had probably given him. He didn't want to jump to conclusions. 

"Do you guys have any other orders?" 

Jisoo glanced to find that the waiter was not Junhui, but instead a small looking boy with a wide grin on his face. He didn't have a name tag, which was what Jisoo looked for first. He wasn't even in the uniform. Odd. Jisoo decided to let Junghan handle it, but was surprised to see that Junghan was staring at the waiter with disbelief in his eyes, with something like a small smirk tugging at his lips. The latter shook his head after a few seconds of staring and focused back on Jisoo, meeting his gaze.

"Do you want anything else?" 

Jisoo tried to ignore the nagging feeling he had that there was something going on between Junghan and the unknown waiter that he didn't know about. It didn't feel very good. He distracted himself from the thought by staring at the nearly empty plates of pizza and fries on the table. His chocolate milkshake was long gone since he couldn't stop drinking it. Did he really want another milkshake? Would that be healthy? 

"I think he wants another milkshake," the waiter spoke as if he read Jisoo's mind, and Jisoo found him smiling teasingly. He turned towards Junghan, "sir, you should order your boyfriend another one." 

Jisoo's eyes bulged at the comment and he felt his face heating up again- he was ready to go ahead and deny that he was Junghan's boyfriend, sure the other boy would do the same, but was surprised to find that instead of looking surprised, Junghan was laughing. The same crisp, clear laugh he always had and that Jisoo had grown to like listening to. The denial Jisoo had got stuck in his throat, and ended up completely dying down when Junghan spoke instead. 

"Seems like a good idea," Junghan grinned, amusement all over his face. "What do you say, Jisoo? Another one since you liked it so much?" 

"I'm not-- I mean, it's not really--" Jisoo tried to stammer out, but to no avail because the only thing actually going on his mind was how Junghan did not deny anything. Maybe he just chose to ignore it instead. That seemed more likely. And the chocolate milkshake was great, so. "Actually, sure. I would like another one."

"Great," the waiter smirked as he walked off. 

Junghan was shaking his head again as the waiter disappeared, which again managed to make Jisoo feel like there was definitely something he was not getting. 

Could it be a prank? 

An elaborate date that will end with Jisoo embarrassed and all of Pledis Pizza laughing at him? Junghan must know the waiter somehow, right? Then, again if they did know each other, he would have been introduced by now. They didn't seem like they knew each other though. Well, they kind of did, but...

No, that was stupid. Jisoo took one look at Junghan's face- the smile that didn't go away, and his eyes that held such sincerity despite being such a tease the entire night- and that idea was as good as gone. So what was with the waiter?

"You must really like chocolate," Junghan mused, snapping Jisoo out from his thoughts. 

Jisoo nodded, thankful for the distraction, "yeah. Chocolate is the best." 

"You are the best," Junghan cheekily replied, succeeding in getting Jisoo to laugh and blush all at the same time, for the umpteenth time that night. He really wished Junghan would stop doing that but he also wished the other boy wouldn't. It left Jisoo all warm and tingly inside each time it happened, and he was worried for the sanity of his heart and mind. 

Junghan was still staring at him when Jisoo turned his attention back. 

"You blush easily too," Junghan stated, a small smile on his lips. 

Jisoo, in response to that, blushed and looked away immediately, "I'm aware." 

Jisoo wasn't sure if he heard a very faint 'how cute' coming from Junghan after the latter laughed, but he didn't dare ask about it. There was no way he would be called cute. Was there? 

"Chocolate milkshake!" 

This time it was Junhui again who showed up, and Jisoo wasn't sure why he felt relieved at the sight of the Chinese boy. Junhui set the drink down in front of him, a pleased smile on his face. 

"This one is on the house and will be taken from Junghan's salary instead," Junhui said sweetly, making Junghan hit his arm. Jisoo laughed at the reaction. 

"For the record, I will be paying for tonight anyway." 

Jisoo began to disagree but Junghan cut him off and continued before he could. 

"I asked you out, it's only right," Junghan grinned. 

Beside them, Junhui cooed, "awwww. That's so sweet, Junghan, you're sweeter than the chocolate milkshake." 

"You can go away again, Junhui." 

Junhui skipped off, but not before giving the two guys a thumbs up, while Jisoo was preparing himself to refuse Junghan's offer to pay. He had his wallet with him for a reason. Just because this was a date doesn't mean only one person should pay. Also, when did he start admitting that this was a date? 

"I can pay," Jisoo started. "I still remember how you and Wonwoo paid for me and my friends' pizza yesterday, I need to pay you back--" 

Junghan laughed in response, which was not really what Jisoo expected. He grinned his usual cheeky grin, "it's fine, Jisoo. I'm pretty sure Wonwoo wanted to pay too since Mingyu was there. Regardless, tonight is on me. Next time then?" 

That was the second time that night Junghan had mentioned the idea of a next time, and again, it made Jisoo all giddy inside and he really hoped Junghan didn't notice how he was almost about to smile and had to stop it by sipping on the milkshake. He nodded as he sipped, meeting Junghan's gaze as he did so. And then Junghan's eyes dipped lower- as if to stare at his lips, before moving back to his eyes. Jisoo may or may not be imagining that Junghan's face was suddenly flushed. 

"Next time," Jisoo finally replied, smiling teasingly himself.

Junghan regained his composure and grinned, brushing a strand of his hair away from his face.

"Great."

Jisoo hummed softly and looked around, as part of his 'I must not stare at Junghan for too long' problem of the night. Just then, two other guys sat at the table beside them- and one of them was the waiter from earlier, now without the apron over his clothes, and next to him was a familiar face. Jisoo recognized him to be one of Hansol's other friends, from the same year as him, Chan. To Jisoo's surprise, Chan met his eyes as well and after a few seconds, a realization appeared on his face. 

"You're Hansol's roommate!" Chan exclaimed, getting up from his seat to approach the table, while the guy he was with- the waiter from before who probably wasn't a waiter at all- was laughing out loud. "I had no idea you were the guy Junghan told us about, wow, if I had only known--"

"Chan," Junghan groaned before Jisoo could react himself. "Why are all of you here?"

"Well, Jihoon told me he was going to come over and since Junhui already technically worked here that meant I was the only one who was missing out on your date and I can't have that," Chan explained quickly, before turning back to Jisoo. "Who knew it was you Junghan was talking about this whole time? I haven't been over your dorm in awhile."

With the situation reaching a whole new level of confusing, Jisoo found himself just nodding as he tried to understand everything. So the waiter earlier- Jihoon, apparently- was also one of Junghan's friends, no wonder he seemed so sly and teasing and why Junghan was so surprised and reluctant to introduce him. Chan here was also friends with Junghan, while also being one of Hansol's classmates from somewhere. He had been around their dorm a few times. Jisoo wasn't paying attention to Junghan complain about his friends being all over the place until Jihoon walked over. 

"Is the chocolate shake really that good?" Jihoon asked, pointing to Jisoo's nearly empty glass. 

"It is," Jisoo replied, still a bit dumbstruck. 

Junghan sighed loudly. 

"Guys," he whined, eyeing the two standing figures. "Can't I enjoy my date in peace?"

Chan grinned, "I'm gonna eat here first. Right there, right beside you guys."

Chan and Jihoon shuffled back to the table, grinning from there. Jisoo actually found the situation funny, glad for once that it wasn't his friends who were plotting behind his back, because Junghan reacted about the same way he did when he was first brought over to Pledis Pizza, as the other boy shook his head in disbelief as he stared at his friends. Junghan soon turned back to face him though. 

"I apologize for my friends," Junghan said exasperately. 

Jisoo laughed, bringing a hand to his mouth, "it's fine. I'm almost done with my drink anyway."

At that, Junghan visibly perked up, "are we moving somewhere else?"

Jisoo froze, "w-well, I was planning on heading home to work on papers. Plus, don't you have a night shift? You need rest beforehand."

He worried over Junghan's reaction and hoped the other won't be so mad that Jisoo was cutting their date soon. To his relief, Junghan nodded in agreement, his smile finding its way back onto his face. 

"Sure, I can walk you back instead. You still have a lot of papers, huh?" 

Jisoo sighed, "sadly."

"I'll be right back," Junghan said suddenly, getting up. Jisoo watched him leave with curious eyes, noticing how Jihoon and Chan from the other table also watched. Jisoo took the time to look back at what had happened so far. Definitely a lot of teasing, from Junghan and even his friends, but overall it had been an extremely fun date. Junghan was just so easy to talk to, and it made it easier for Jisoo to relax around him too. 

Junghan returned a few minutes later, "alright let's go."

"We haven't paid," Jisoo said, before realizing- so that's where Junghan went. He couldn't help but chuckle at the other boy's pleased expression. "Alright. Next time."

Jisoo took one last sip from his milkshake and got up. 

"You guys are leaving?" Chan complained, looking sad. "I just got here!"

"Exactly," Junghan replied, sticking his tongue out. He extended his hand towards Jisoo and smiled. "Let's go?"

Without thinking twice, Jisoo found himself placing his own hand over Junghan's, ignoring the excited reactions from Chan and Jihoon, who were suddenly whooping and shouting as Junghan intertwined their fingers, actually blushing a little himself. Jisoo stared at their hands and found himself smiling, definitely blushing as well. Junghan led the way to the front door, where they were greeted by Junhui and Seunggwan. 

"That's so cute," Seunggwan squealed, as Junhui began slowly clapping.

"I am impressed, Yoon Junghan," Junhui said solemnly, before breaking into a smile himself. 

Junghan just shook his head at his friends, while Jisoo kept his eyes averted from them, feeling all shy again as Junghan waved goodbye with his free hand. Jisoo ended up doing the same, and together, they left the store. 

It was no longer raining, thankfully, and the air was still cool and it made walking a lot better. Junghan was actually humming to himself as they walked, their arms lightly swinging, while Jisoo tried to keep himself from thinking too much about it. Okay, this was definitely a sign that they liked each other, right? I mean, he's never held hands with Hansol or the other guys, at least not while they were walking and acting like a couple. This was a good thing, right? Jisoo continued to wonder in his head, a comfortable kind of silence passing between them. Junghan had a smile on his lips, but likewise didn't really say anything. He was strangely quiet. 

Jisoo stopped them right at the intersection from the university entrance, to the dorms. 

"I can take it from here," Jisoo said. "I still have to pick Hansol up at our friend's dorm before I head back."

Junghan nodded, and slowly, their fingers untangled and Jisoo missed the warmth immediately. 

"I'll see you then," Jisoo continued, about to turn back to prevent Junghan from clearly seeing his red face, until he was pulled back by a hand grasping his wrist. 

Junghan let go after Jisoo had faced him again. There was an unfamiliar expression on his face- nervousness? Jisoo found himself at a lost for words, unsure of what was about to happen, as he stared at the other boy. He watched as Junghan took a deep breath, and finally, opened his mouth to speak.

"You wanna know what I've been thinking about all night?" 

Jisoo could only nod, his heart beating faster in anticipation because is Junghan doing what he thinks he is doing.

Junghan smiled a little, his confidence returning slowly, "I was thinking about how happy I am that I got to spend the night with you."

Jisoo's breath caught in his throat. 

"Because," Junghan started to say, meeting his eyes, an expression of utmost sincerity with just a hint of the previous nervousness showing. Jisoo's entire world exploded the moment he heard what came out of the other boy's mouth. "I like you, Jisoo. You know what would make me happier?" 

There's that teasing grin again.

"If you say you like me too."


	12. cheesy things

Junghan's world seemed to go into slow motion for the seconds that followed his impromptu confession. 

For one thing, his heart was hammering in his chest out of pure nervousness at what he just did. He could also feel the pulse of Jisoo's wrist, where he was still holding on when he turned the other boy towards him. Despite doing his best to keep a calm demeanour, even smiling by the end of his confession, a million thoughts were running in his head. A lot of which involved how cute Jisoo looked when his face turned red and how he had to cover his mouth with his free hand. A few were dwelling on the thought that he might get rejected- but things went well enough that night that that outcome was close to impossible. 

Jisoo continued to just stare at him. 

"Well, don't leave me hanging," Junghan joked, finally releasing Jisoo's wrist, the thumping of his heart still echoing in his ears. The nervousness in him was building up by the second.

It felt like forever before Jisoo brought his hand down from his mouth. Junghan watched Jisoo's lips quirk up into a smile, before turning into a full-blown grin, those wide eyes of his crinkling as he laughed and met Junghan's gaze. 

"As if you don't know I like you," Jisoo finally said, softly, but still loud enough for Junghan to hear. The other boy immediately looked down afterwards, blush still in place, and the sight made Junghan's heart skip a beat. 

Junghan may have let out a shout of a joy, and he also may have done a little fistpump of victory, but at that point he wasn't sure what he was doing. There was only one thing repeating in his mind, and that was that Jisoo liked him back. He stopped whatever it is he was doing and turned his attention back to Jisoo. The latter had that sparkle in his eyes as he stared back, a smile playing on his lips that showed a sense of amusement on his features. Junghan realized he may have acted like a dork just then but then figured he didn't care. 

This was the guy who called at 1AM and accidentally said I love you. They were at least equal now on the embarrassment scale. 

Speaking of.

"Does this mean we're together now? Officially?" Junghan asked innocently, because isn't that the way confessions usually worked? 

However, Jisoo smiled teasingly, "well, you didn't exactly ask me to be your boyfriend. You're gonna have to court me first. I've only known you for two days."

As he spoke, he inched closer and closer to Junghan, leaving just a little bit of space between them. It was then that Junghan noticed that Jisoo was actually taller than him by around an inch, barely noticeable, really. He grinned right back up at Jisoo, nodding his head excitedly, enjoying the sudden closeness. 

"Sure, I can live with that," Junghan replied. "As long as we end up together." 

Jisoo laughed and it sounded as sweet as always to Junghan. The other boy finally stepped back. 

"I have to go now," Jisoo said, walking backwards slowly. "I'll see you around?" 

"I'll text you for sure," Junghan assured him, tempted again to reach out and grab Jisoo, but knew that he had to let the night end. 

Jisoo flashed him one last smile before turning to walk away. 

"Hey Jisoo!" 

He turned around, "what, Junghan?" 

"You've stolen a pizza my heart," Junghan shouted after him, grinning when Jisoo laughed again, which was exactly the reaction he was going for. 

"Hansol already used that pun. Try again next time!" 

And like that, Jisoo was out of earshot. Junghan's smile remained in place the whole time he watched the figure walk away, turning a corner and then disappearing from his sight. Junghan may have stood at the same spot for a few seconds before he realized, and headed back to the direction they came from. 

Everybody was waiting for him by the time he got back to Pledis Pizza. 

Wonwoo had finally arrived, and looked smug as ever the moment Junghan entered the place. Jihoon and Chan were still around, and they were all around the counter. It was getting late, and the last few customers the store had were beginning to leave, which meant they had some time to themselves since the possibility of customers coming in after 10PM was rare- deliveries were more of a thing. 

"About time you returned!" Junhui exclaimed first, dragging Junghan over to sit at the counter, where he was soon surrounded by the others.

"What happened?" Seunggwan asked excitedly.

Junghan chuckled at the sight of his friends all looking so eager. Even Jihoon looked amused by the situation. 

"Ah, right," Junghan started, focusing his attention on Jihoon, and then Chan. He raised an eyebrow at them both, "really, guys? Pretending to be a waiter, and then suddenly showing up? Was that necessary?"

Chan nodded and grinned, answering for the both of them, "definitely! Now quit stalling and tell us what happened, you were gone for a while and I know the university dorms can't be that far from here."

Junghan sighed in defeat under the intense stares his friends gave him. He took a deep breath and then gave a shorter version of what happened: that they held hands as they walked, that Jisoo asked to be dropped off at the intersection, and finally, that he confessed and how Jisoo mentioned liking him back. He also filled them in about how they're technically not boyfriends yet, which left Chan bewildered and Junhui pouting. Jihoon on the other hand, nodded approvingly, clapping a hand on Junghan's shoulder. 

"Congrats for not messing up," Jihoon said with a small smirk. 

"Thanks," Junghan replied sarcastically, but had to smile. 

Seunggwan was still shaking his head in disbelief, "the way you confessed was so cheesy, I still can't comprehend. Plus that last line, wow."

"If it worked then it worked," Wonwoo piped up after a moment of silence. "Can you teach me some of those moves, Junghan?"

Junghan laughed at first- but soon realized that Wonwoo, for once, looked absolutely serious. 

"Is this regarding Mingyu?"

The other boy nodded solemnly.

"Well," Junghan grinned, turning to look around them at the other guys. "I guess we can help."


	13. fin.

Hong Jisoo could be considered a sweet boy if you ask his parents. He would definitely be a nice guy if you ask the people around him. Other than that, he was also on the diligent side of things. University life has began to take its toll on the 19 year old, especially since he was nearing the end of his year's second semester. That always meant an onslaught of exams, reports, and lots and lots of papers; all of which went hand in hand with a chocolate milkshake, a box of pizza, and Junghan by his side. 

And if Junghan was around, that meant the rest of their friends were around as well, because they still refuse to leave them alone. Not that it bothered Jisoo much, by this point. Hansol had already gotten used to Junghan being around their dorm a lot, and the latter often brought along his friend, Chan, along with him, so that was fine. If they weren't at the dorm, they would be at Pledis Pizza.

Junhui ended up befriending Minghao, who was always all-talk around the other Chinese boy, which made Jisoo and his friends wonder when was he ever that talkative- maybe since they always spoke Korean around him. Seungcheol and Mingyu dropped by as well, but Mingyu would excuse himself whenever Wonwoo was around, to the other boy's annoyance. 

Wonwoo complained about that bit constantly, but Junghan would always just pat his back and comfort him by saying 'there, there.' Jisoo would be the one to offer a sip of chocolate milkshake, reasoning that it could heal their hearts. He always got Junghan to laugh at that. 

Jihoon actually ended up working at Pledis Pizza as well, after Seunggwan and Soonyoung convinced him that he did a good job serving people; that, and he needed some extra income as well, and working with friends was always fun. Seokmin joined the team soon after, and things got a lot more noisier around the establishment, with him constantly belting out songs as he delivered orders. That also made things more fun, so it was alright. 

There was still a lingering question in the air, however.

Hansol entered Jisoo's room one night, at 2AM in the morning, stress written all over his face as he fell flat on the older boy's bed. He groaned into the sheets while Jisoo stared the boy on his bed with a concerned expression. It was nearing finals week, which meant summer was just around the corner, but that also meant the workload just got harder. Hell Week, so they call it, which meant double the papers for both of them. Being in a higher year level, Jisoo got fairly more work to do, but still, he stopped his paper for the sake of the younger boy.

"Are you okay, Hansol?" He asked, even if he already knew the answer.

Jisoo got another groan in response.

Soon, Hansol rolled over so that he was lying flat on the bed instead, staring up at the ceiling for a few seconds before finally turning over to face Jisoo. 

"Have you said yes to Junghan yet?" 

Jisoo blinked in surprise at the question, "what do you mean?"

"Has he asked you to be his boyfriend yet?" Hansol repeated, slower this time, a teasing smirk on his face. 

"Well," Jisoo started, "technically, I have to ask him. He said it was up to me."

Jisoo recalled the certain day a few months after the confession, which involved a pouting Junghan asking him again if they could be official yet. Jisoo partially said not yet because he was nervous about the idea, and also because Junghan looked cute whenever he would whine. Jisoo knew the latter was always half-joking whenever he would complain, anyway. Eventually, he left the choice for Jisoo to decide. 

Hansol's jaw dropped, "you're kidding. And what have you done so far?"

Jisoo hesitated, "I've done a lot of papers?" 

"You're kidding, man, that's so lame," Hansol shook his head. "You know what we should do? We should call for pizza." 

Hansol shoved Jisoo's phone in his hand in a matter of seconds, now sitting up on the bed beside him while Jisoo laughed and dialed the familiar hotline- not Junghan's personal phone- and set it down on loud speaker again.

"Hello, thanks for calling Pledis Pizza! How may I help you?"

Jisoo couldn't help but smile at the familiar voice, making Hansol shake his head and mutter something that sounded like how are you two not together yet?

"Hey," Jisoo finally said.

"Jisoo!" The voice on the other end of the line brightened immediately, and Jisoo could hear snickers in the background. 

"One regular cheese and bacon pizza, please," Jisoo continued.

A voice in the background that Jisoo recognized to be Junhui's went "keep it professional, Junghan" followed by what sounded like Junghan shushing them. 

"It'll be there soon."

"Sure, thanks," Jisoo paused, and met Hansol's gaze- a knowing look passed the boy's face. He stared back down at the phone, a light blush spreading over his face already. Finally, he continued:

"I love you."

Hansol bit into a pillow Jisoo didn't know when he got. On the other line, there was a definite silence, followed by what sounded like the phone actually dropping on the floor, before Junghan's voice came up again.

"Is that for real this time? Does this mean-- I mean, I'm hoping-- Jisoo?" His voice sounded so breathless that Jisoo couldn't help but laugh, already imagining the other's flustered face and also the probably confused looks of his colleagues. 

"That's not the answer I was hoping for, Junghan," Jisoo teased. 

"Oh. Oh, well, of course," Junghan took a deep breath. Jisoo did the same. "I love you too."

Hansol comically rolled off the bed just as Jisoo smiled brightly, already hearing the shouts and excited reactions on the other end- Seunggwan being the loudest voice he heard, and it even seemed like Junhui was blabbering in excitedly in Chinese. Jisoo listened in for a few more minutes before Junghan's voice came up again.

"I'll go make the pizza now, it'll be there soon, bye!" 

The call ended just as Hansol climbed onto the bed again, "you sneaky, sneaky person."

Jisoo smiled cheekily, settling back on his laptop again to continue on his work. Hansol continued to laze around on his bed, and the older boy didn't feel like getting him to get back to work- rest was definitely needed in the midst of Hell Week, afterall, and Jisoo knew how to respect that. The doorbell rang, and Jisoo got up from his bed since it didn't seem like Hansol was planning on moving anytime soon.

He opened the door and expected Wonwoo, but instead, Jisoo was greeted by the smiling face of Junghan.

"You're not the delivery boy," were the first words out of Jisoo's mouth as he stared, surprised.

"No," Junghan replied, inching closer, moving the pizza box to the side with one hand. "But I am your boyfriend now, which means, I can do this."

Junghan placed a hand on Jisoo's cheek, and the latter soon felt a pair of soft lips on his as he stared in shock because Junghan was so close and were they kissing? They must have been, really, because Jisoo felt his knees go weak. Junghan finally pulled away. 

"I've always wanted to do that," Junghan said cheekily. Despite his teasing, Jisoo noticed how his face was likewise flushed red. 

A cough sounded from behind them, and they jumped apart immediately.

Hansol sauntered over, taking the pizza box from Junghan, "don't mind me, guys, I'm just here for the pizza." 

He disappeared back into his room right afterwards, but the damage had been done. Jisoo stared shyly at Junghan, before looking at everything else but the boy before him. A few seconds of silence passed before Junghan finally spoke. 

"I have to return to the store now," Junghan said, still smiling from earlier. "Let's go out more in the summer, yeah?"

Jisoo nodded, "of course." 

"I'll see you then," Junghan leaned in to kiss his cheek as a form of goodbye, grinning in the end as Jisoo once more had a shocked look on his face, before smiling himself and waving goodbye. 

Summer was going to be pretty fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the end of the fanfic! If you've liked it, feel free to comment here or shoot me up @stilljunhui on Twitter!

**Author's Note:**

> Please excuse any mistakes (or point them out because I keep forgetting to edit what I've already noticed)  
> If you like my work and would like to support me, please consider buying me coffee! https://ko-fi.com/stilljunhui


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